Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer will step down from her role with the company following Yahoo’s sale to Verizon, it was announced today. Mayer has been CEO of Yahoo since she moved from Google in 2012.
Since then, she has overseen Yahoo’s fall from a prominent internet company to the butt of a joke about email clients, watched as billions of Yahoo users have been hacked, and bought 53 other companies, none of which have done anything.
In return for her services, Mayer will receive a severance package worth around $23 million, according to regulatory documents filed Monday.
Yahoo’s new CEO will be Thomas McInerney, who currently serves on Yahoo’s board of directors. The $4.48 billion sale will see Verizon take control of Yahoo’s remaining web assets like the email and search products you’re probably familiar with.
The company currently named Yahoo will be rebranded as Altaba. It will be helmed by McInerney, and devote its time to the company’s stakes in Yahoo Japan and Alibaba, the successful Chinese e-commerce business. Verizon will be responsible for the day-to-day functioning of Yahoo-branded tech products.
It’s a sad end for Yahoo and Mayer, who has long been one of a few female CEOs of large tech companies. She was brought on with the express mission of turning around Yahoo’s failing fortunes five years ago, but has mostly just served as a custodian for Yahoo’s slow demise.
